Yes Sir Four: Love Anxiety
by Aroara Starrunner
Summary: This is the fourth story in my Yes, Sir series, the sequel to Yes, Sir Three: Don't You Dare. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!
1. Insomnia

_A famous man once said, we create our own demons. Who said that? What does that even mean? Doesn't matter. I said 'cause he said it. So, now, he was famous and that basically getting said by two well-known, guys. I don't, uh. . . I'm going start again from. Let's track this from the beginning, Amber. . . I started to burn Switzerland in 1999. The old days. Never thought that they would come back to bite me. Why would they?. . . Why am I telling you this? Because I had just created demons and I didn't even know it. Man, those were good times. Then, I moved on. After a brief sware in an Afghan cave, I said goodbye to the party scene. I forgot that night in Switzerland. These days I'm a changed man. I'm different now. I. . . well. . . you know who I am._

 _~Anthony Edward Stark_

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"Sir, I've prepare a safety briefing for you to ignore." I heard Jarvis annouced through the garage as I made my way down the steps to it. I punched in my code on the keypad imbedded in the glass and walked in to see Tony standing on a platform.

"And, Sir, may I remind you that you've been awake for nearly seventy-two hours." I said before Jarvis could get to it. Tony looked up at me at the sound of my voice and smiled. I saw the stress and anxiety in his brown eyes softly fade away as he gazed upon me.

"Glad you're here, baby." He smiled. "I want to show you what I've been working on."

"Tony, it's time for bed."

"Oh, come on, Am, just let me show you this." I rolled my eyes and sighed, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Fine." His smile grew bigger.

"Ok, focus up, ladies. Good evening and welcome to the birthing suite. I am pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, badass baby brother. Start titan and go white. Stamp date and time. Mark 42 autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test. Initialize squence. Jarvis, drop my needle." A record to the side of the garage began to play a rock and roll version of Jingle Bells. Tony stood on his platform and did little cute dancing moves, flexing his muscles to the beat of the music. I couldn't help but laugh as joy fluttered inside me. He focused up and stretched out his arm to a table with a bunch of the suit's parts on it. Nothing happened.

"Is something supposed to be happening?" Tony ignored me and flexed his arm again and got the same results.

"Crap." He banged his arm a couple times and did it again. The arm piece on the table whirred to life and flew off the table and directly onto Tony's arm followed by the shoulder piece. He stretched his right arm out and the right hand followed in suit. He laughed at his invention. "Alright, I think we got this. Send them all." Piece by piece the suit began to put itself together. Until it started to get out of hand. A piece whizzed right by Tony's head into his glass display cases.

"Tony!" I yelled as I saw the bicep piece flying right at him when he wasn't paying attention. He held up his arm to block it and it bounced off with sparks.

"Probably just a little fast. . . slow it down. Slow it down just a. . . little bit." A piece flew right past him and hit a pipe and ricocheted off directly in my direction. I ducked just in time for it to fly over my head. His leg pieces came intact and the groin piece slammed into him with great force. I winced and sucked in air as he groaned in pain. He didn't have time to recover when the back piece launched into him, knocking him forward and almost knocking him down. He used the hand jets to stablize him and stand him up right. "Cool it, will you, Jarvis." Everything else started to go smoothly again until the face mask slammed into the record player, killing the music. It floate in the air facing Tony like it was taunting him. "Come on. I ain't scare of you." The face mask started at him and turned upside down. Tony used his jets to do a flip and met the face mask, landing on the platform on one knee and slamming his fist into the ground. "I'm the best." Him standing there on the platform in his suit and me standing there without mine on just made me love him even more and made me feel so protected by him. My moment was ruined when the piece from the glass display case attacked Tony from behind causing his suit to fall apart into pieces again and knocking him to the ground. I rushed over to him and knelt down beside him. I gingerly took off his helmet and looked down into his big brown eyes.

"As always, Sir, a great pleasure watching you work." Jarvis said.

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 _I guess seventy-hours is a long time between siestas =. Didn't think it could get any worse. Then, they had to go and turn on the TV. That's when 'he' happened._

 _~Anthony Edward Stark_

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"It tested well with focuse groups, alright?" James said as we sat at a table in the local bar listening to the news talk about James's new paint job on his suit. Instead of War Machine they changed it to Iron Patriot and painted the suit red, white and blue.

"I am Iron Patriot." Tony said in a deep robotic voice.

"Listen. War Machine was a little too agressive, alright. This sends a better message."

"So what's really going on? With Mandarin." James sighed and looked down at he table. "Seriously, can we talk about this guy?"

"It's classified information, Tony. Okay, there've been nine bombings-"

"Nine. . . "

"The public only knows about three. But here's the thing. . . Nobody can ID a device. There's no bomb casings-"

"You know I can help. Just ask. I got a ton of new tech. I got a prehensile suit. I got bomb disposal. Catches explosions mid-air."

"When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?" I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair.

"Don't even go there, Rhodey." I huffed. "I've tried to talk to him and everything. He won't listen. Decides that tinkering with things is more important."

"Einstein slept three hours a year. Look what he did." Tony objected.

"People are concerned about you, Tony." James said.

"I'm concerned about you." I added, placing my hand on his, running my thumb ginergly over his knuckles. Tony looked at me through his red sunglasses.

"You gonna come at me like that?" Tony questioned me.

"Look, we're not trying to be dic-" James cut off when two kids walked up to Tony with a drawing in their hands. "-tator."

"Would you mind signing my drawing?" The little girl asked in a small voice, handing the drawing to Tony as he took off his sunglasses and stuck them into his back pocket.

"If Richard doesn't mind." Tony joked with James. "You alright with this, Dick?"

"Fine with me." James said.

"What is your name?"

"Erin." The girl answered.

"By the way, I liked you in A Christmas Story." Tony whispered to the little boy with the glasses. I laughed and shook my head at his humor. Tony looked at me and smiled at my laugh as he took the crayon from Erin.

"Listen, the Pentagon is scared." James continued. "After what happened in New York. . . aliens, come on. They need to look strong. Stopping the Mandarin is a priority, but it's not. . ."

"It's not superhero business." I answered for Tony as he signed the drawing of Iron Man and Iron Boy flying.

"No, it's not, quite frankly. It's American Business." Before I could throw something else at James, something snapped and I looked down to see the crayon in Tony's hand crumble. I looked up at his face to see his eyes staring in space, his veins in his neck standing out. His body was rigid.

"Tony? Are you okay?"

"I broke the crayon." Tony muttered.

"Take it easy, Tony." I reached out to touch his arm and as soon as I did, he jumped up and stumbled through the crowd of people and out the door. Without a second thought, I raced after him. I followed him down the wooden steps to the suits that were standing by the motorcycles. He climbed into his and it enclosed around him.

"Check the heart, check the, check the, it is the brain?"

"No sign of cardiac analomy or unusual brain activity." I heard Jarvis inform Tony.

"Okay, so I was poisoned?" Jarvis was quiet for a minute.

"My diagnosis is that you've experienced a severe anxiety attack."

"Me?" James came out and knelt down beside me and Tony.

"Come on, man, this isn't a good look." James said. "Open up."

"Sorry, I gotta split." Tony stood up and pushed me and James away before taking off into the sky. I quickly enclosed myself in my suit and followed after him. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

I pulled up to the house in my 2015 back and red camaro and slowed to a stop as I noticed a giant sand colored bunny. On its neck, it wore a necklace that said, Merry Christmas, Amber. I blinked in astonishment as I tried to comprehend the big stuffed bunny sitting in my driveway. I grinned and turned the car off before getting out and walking through the front door.

"Sorry, I'm late." I called through out the house. "I was having lunch with Pepper and catching up on things." I stopped in the middle of the circular large living room when I saw the Iron Man suit sitting on the couch. I cocked my head to the side and stared at him in confusion. "So, now that you don't run Stark Industries anymore, you think you can just lounge around on the couch in the suit?"

"You know, everybody needs a hobby." Tony said.

"And you have to wear your hobby in the living room?"

"Just breaking it in, you know, it's alway a little pinchy in the GUI-bag at first." I laughed at him as I sat down in the white leather chair and started to take off my heels. "Did you see your Christmas present?"

"Yes, I did. I don't know how i could have missed that Christmas present. Is it gonna fit through the door?"

"Well, actually, uh, that's a good question, I got a team of guys coming tomorrow. They're gonna blow out that wall. Did you have a good day?" I opened my mouth to answer but he didn't let me. "I don't want to harp on this but did you like the custom rabbit?" I rolled my eyes as I flexed my toes to stretch the aching muscles.

"Did I like it?"

"Nailed it, right?"

"Wow. I appreciate the thought very much." I stood up and Tony stood up with me and walked over to me. "So why don't you lift up that facemask and give me a kiss." Tony sucked in air and knocked on his head with his fist.

"Huh, yup, damnit. No can do. You want to just kiss it on the, uh, facial slit?"

"Why don't I run down to the garage and see if I can find a crowbar to jimmy that thing open?"

"Crowbar. . . yeah." Tony's voice sounded hypontized as I skipped away to the steps. "Oh, except there's been a radiation leak."

"I'll take my chances."

"That's risky. At least let me get you like a Hazmat suit or a Geiger counter or something like that." I walked down the steps and slowed my pace when I saw the real Tony doing pull-ups with a headset on that was apparently controling the suit that I was talking to. The smile on my face faded away as I stared at Tony who stopped working out and turned to face me. I crossed my arms over my chest and tightened my jaw, my blue eyes burning bright. The suit followed my down the steps and stood beside me. "Busted."

"This is a new level of lame."

"Sorry." Dummy came over to me and held out a plate of seasoned chicken breast with a side of french dressing salad. There was only one plate which infuriated me even more.

"You ate without me, already? On date night?"

"He was just-" Tony pointed to the suit.

"You mean you."

"Well, yeah, I just mean we were just. . . just hosting you whiled I finished up a little work. And yes, I had a quick bite. I didn't know when you would be home. Whether you were going out with Pepper and Aldrich Killian?" I gasped at him. I understand that he would know that I was with Pepper but how could have known that I was Aldrich Killian too. My mouth hung open in shock and the suit turned to look at me. I growled at him and he turned and walked away before I turned my attention back to Tony.

"Were you checking up on me?"

"Happy was concerned-"

"No, you're spying on me. I'm going to bed." I turned on my heel and started to storm back up the steps, this time with no hop in my gait.

"Hold on. Come on. Am-" I ignored him and I was halfway up the steps before he finally convinced me to stop. "Hey, I admit it. My fault. Sorry." I pivoted back around and walked down the steps again and stepping into the garage and stopped when I was standing on the ledge to the center of the garage. "I'm a piping hot mess. It's been going on a while. . . I haven't said anything. Nothing's been the same since New York."

"Oh, really?" I questioned him as I rolled my eyes at him for stating the obvious. "I didn't notice that, at all."

"You experience things and then they're over and you still can't explain them. Gods, aliens, other dimensions. . . I'm just a man in a can. The only reason I haven't cracked up is probably because you're still here. Which is great. I love you. I'm lucky. But, honey,. . . I can't sleep. You go to bed, I come down here. I do what I know; I tinker. The threat is imminent. And I have to protect the one thing that I can't live without. . ." He pointed to me. "That's you. And my suits; they're uh. . ."

"Machines."

"They're part of me."

"A distraction."

"Maybe." I sighed and walked over to him where I standing on the ledge again, standing over him, making me a head taller than him. He looked up at me with pleading brown eyes. He leaned his head into me and I hugged him as his firm hands traveled up my back. I took off his headset and set it on the table to the right of me, running my fingers through his hair.

"I'm gonna take a shower."

"Okay." I began to walk back to the steps but stopped and looked over my shoulder at Tony. "And you're going to join me."

"Better."


	2. Downtown Abbey

I walked out of the parking garage to the Stark Animal Hospital that I was running. I was almost to my camaro when my phone rang in my back pocket. Pulling it out, I saw that it was Tony and I quickly answered it. I didn't even have time to say hello when Tony talked in a rush before hanging up.

"Happy's been in an explosive accident. Malibu Hospital. Room 154." He quickly hung up and I got in my car and raced off to the hospital.

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I sat in the chair next to Tony staring at Happy's sleeping body on the hospital bed. IVs stuck in him on both sides with a breathing tube down his throat. He had burns running all across his body. I made a silent vow to find out who did this to him and make him pay for it. A nurse walked in to check in on Happy but paid no attention to Tony and me.

"Hi." Tony said nonchantly in the darkness of his chair. The nurse jumped in shock and turned to face us. Tony stood up ready to leave and I followed his lead. "Mind leaving that on?" He pointed to the TV. "Sunday night's PBS _Downtown Abbey._ That's the show. He thinks it's elegant. One more thing. . . Make sure everyone wears their badges. He's a stickler for that sort of thing, plus my guys won't let anyone in without them." He began to leave the room and I chased after him. We got to the entrance of the hospital where our car was and found a herd of news crews. As soon as we exited the hospital, they swarmed us and surrounded us with questions. Tony placed his hand on the small of my back where he was able to guide me to the car. He opened the passenger door and I climbed in. He quickly shut and headed to the other side. As he made his way, the reporters kept getting louder and louder and more persistent. But Tony kept ignoring them. Usually Tony would be happy to answer questions. He loved being on TV, being known by the world. But this wasn't any other day He almost lost of his best friends today. He opened the driver's door and I heard a male yell out above the rest of the reporters.

"Hey, Mr. Stark! When is somebody going to kill this guy?" Tony stopped and turned to the guy who had his phone recording anything that Tony was about to say. "Just sayin'."

"Is that what you want? Here's a little holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know that you're a coward so I've decided that you just died, pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here; it's just good, old-fashioned revenge. There's no pentagon; it's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address. 10880 Malibu Point. 90265. I'll leave the door unlocked. That's what you wanted, right?" He snatched the phone from the guy's and hand slammed it against a pillar causing it to shattered into pieces. "Bill me." He climbed into the car and drove off without sayin a word and leaving the nosy reporters behind us.

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"I've complied a Mandarin database for you, sir, drawn from SHIELD, FBI, CIA intercepts." Jarvis informed Tony as we sat in the basement researching the bomb threats that James was talking about the other day. "Initiating virtual crime scene reconstruction." Jarvis layed out the crime scene that Happy was injured at throughout the whole garage. Every detail of the scene was in blue.

"His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle meaning advisor to the king. South American insurgency tactics. Talks like a Bapist preacher. There's a lots of pegentry going on here. . . lots of theatre. Amber, can you get any elements off the explosives?" Tony muttered to himself as I sat in a chair and watched him pace back and forth thinking. I shook my head.

"There's no known element in any of them." I answered. "The heat from the blast was in excess of three thousand degrees Celsius. Any subject within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly."

"No bomb parts found in a three mile radius of the Chinese theatre?"

"No, sir." Jarvis said. Tony looked at Happy's holographic body on the ground and examined the surroundings.

"Talk to me, Happy. When is a bomb not a bomb?" Tony's eyes fixed on to something near Happy's body and my body straightened up as I was curious on what it was.

"What is it, Tony?" I questioned him.

"It's a set of dog tags." He motioned to pick up the dog tags and they floated up into the air in front of him.

"Like army dog tags?"

"Do you know any other dog tags?" I grimaced at him.

"Remember that I was stuck in an Afghan cave for four years so excuse me if my general knowlegde of the world is a little rusty."

"Sorry, Amber. Any military victims?"

"Not according to public records, sir." Jarvis stated.

"Bring up the thermogenic signatures again, factor in three thousand degrees."

"The oracle cloud has completed analysis. Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurance now." Tony climbed onto a rack to look across the garage floor as Jarvis created a map of the United States with bomb attacks in several states.

"Take away everywhere that there's been a Mandarin attack." That dropped it down to three. Tony flicked the one from California away and the one from North Dakota before looking at the one in Tennessee. The heat signature and news review on it was exactly like the ones that the Mandarin did. "That. You sure that's not one of his?"

"It predates any known Mandarin attack. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide. The heat signature is remarkably similar. Three thousand degree Celisius."

"That's two military guys. . . Ever been to Tennessee, Amber?"

"Creating a flight plan for Tennessee." I muttered, waving a new hologram window open for me to make the flight. The doorbell rang throughout the entire house and Tony and I looked up in shock.

"Are we still at ding-dong? We're supposed to be on total security lockdown. Come on, I threatened a terrorist. Who is that?" Jarvis pulled up a camera feed of the driveway to see a woman in an old jeep pull up.

"There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address." Jarvis said as Tony ran to greet whoever was at the door.

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End file.
